Maybe In Another World
by amyheartsricky
Summary: Alex Russo has always been known for making trouble but when 1 spell has her parents calling the Wizard Council, she's sent to another dimension as punishment. Her parents swear they don't remember a daughter and someone familiar is falling for her charm.
1. Wizard Studies

1

***

Alex Russo blew her bangs from her face and stared at her oldest brother as he went on and on about some useless toy that she'd "accidently" broken while looking for keys to the family flying carpet. If he'd just handed them over like he should have then they wouldn't have a problem, would they?

"..._not_ a toy, Alex! It's a prize replica...no one in the world has one of these...time you started acting your age for once in your life...! I cannot _believe_ you...! Look, you're not even paying attention, are you...!"

His voice cut in and out of focus while she leaned her head against the cool countertop, still pretending to listen. He went on and on, sounding more and more like her nagging history teacher and she almost fell asleep before her father walked into the lair.

"Okay, kids! Today's lesson will be something I think you'll _all _enjoy." Jerry called loudly to his three adolescent kids. It didn't escape Alex's notice that he seemed to be talking directly to her. "So listen up. I will be teaching you how to become..._invisible._" He paused dramatically and waited for the excitement to bubble up.

"Really, daddy? You're gonna teach me how to become invisible?" Alex asked excitedly. She smiled slightly and thought of how many people she could avoid with the perk of being able to render herself invisible for any amount of time. Her history teacher, for one. Justin, her father when he asked her to clean up the shop after-hours, her mother when she asked if her homework was done, her science teacher when he asked if her homework was done, Harper when she came up with another wacky idea that Alex would rather die than go through with... and also Dean, since their breakup last year she'd pretty much avoided him whenever he came into town to visit. Oh yes, being invisible would have it's perks.

Her smile become more sinister and cunning by the minute and Justin spoke warily, "Yeah, dad? Are you _sure_ that's such a good idea..? Teaching us _all_ how to turn ourselves invisible?" He stared at Alex as he said this, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, Justin. The spell will only last an hour. Or 30 to 35 minutes if the wizard is suspicious of using the spell for wrong-doing. Meaning, if you're up to something, you'll instantly be changed back. How far could she get?" He laughed loudly but, seeing the look on Alex's face, he back-tracked. "Or--or him. Or him."

She grinned at him sweetly. This spell couldn't be that hard to fool. She'd seen spells like this one before. One simple innocence charm and it worked like it should. It was the one spell she'd found worth memorising. _Silly, silly child, do as you're told; But spin once around and the rules you will hold. Change them carefully, don't get caught; Go down and good manners will be taught..._

She'd found it in the old spell books stacked on the shelves behind her. It said the spell was used for altering the balance between what was good and evil, whatever that meant. But it did the job, what used to be bad was changed to look good in everyone's eyes and she got off scotch-free every time. At least for an hour. There was a warning stretched across the bottom of that page that still made her nervous even now. It warned every wizard that if the spell was used for anything that they considered "_bad enough"_, they would come to punish said wizard. She tried to avoid getting in trouble by the Wizard Council, they made her hair stand on end, especially since the time she'd barely escaped with her powers. It was now thanks to Justin that she was still an actual wizard. If the Wizard Council caught her doing something even remotely illegal then she didn't what would happen...

"...and _so,_ to start off the lesson I want each of you to get the spell books I've ordered from the Wizard Net out when they arrive. Which should be any minute now... Ah, yes, here they come now." He paused, watching three heavy-looking and battered text books flying through the open window, wizard mail style. Justin got there first and tossed Alex her copy, followed by Max, her youngest brother. The large, bold text read: _**Wizard Studies: Volume 36. **_It was a very large book, and she opened it only half-heartedly, sifting through it`s pages with a worried expression. "_Now_, let's get to buisness. This is a very important lesson because you haven't learned anything this advanced so far. I want each of you to open to page 5,758: chapter 101. Come on, quick."

Alex shoved one-third of the book's pages over, glancing at a few interesting titles at the top of a scatter pages. _The Time-turning Charm (pages 741 through 800), 101 Ways To Disguise Yourself (all of chapter 7), How To Change Your Appearance: From Your Hair To Your Toes (page 600), Beginner Spells: The Basics, The Copy-Cat Spell (pages 900 through 1000), Spells For The Adolescent Wizard, Emergency Spells (page 1001), How To Make Animals Talk and Various Animal-Related Charms (page 1002 through 2027), Love Spells (page 6000)... _Alex had never been so excited to read a book in her life, there were so many useful spells in here that she could use. She was so anxious she hardly noticed that she'd been flipping pages for 10 minutes already or that her father had continued his brief discussion about the book and their instructions.

"Alex, _what are you doing?_ You're supposed to be reading chapter one-hundred and one." Her dad made his way up to the table they were working on, trying to see what she was doing. She carefully turned a page on _102 Most Annoying Charms for the Adolescent Wizard _so he wouldn't get the wrong idea. "Alex, Justin and Max are there already. What's taking so long?"

"Sorry, Dad. I'm there." She flipped over another third of the book and a few dozen pages and it fell on the appropriate page. _Chapter 101: Body-Altering Spells and Charms. _Underneath was a picture of a full-wizard whose head was that of a woman and whose body was that of a man. It was a very odd picture but it made her giggle. Justin shushed her, absorbed in his own copy of the odd Wizard Studies book.

The words were hand-written and beyond hard to read, though Justin seemed to be having no problem. Even Max was reading ahead. She looked up to see Jerry laying down gingerly on the sofa opposite them and not paying much attention. Perfect.

She whispered the spell as quietly as possible with Justin and Max only two feet from her. "These words confuse my mind; Change them to fit my kind." Nothing happened. She cringed, seeing Justin look over accusingly. She'd have to try again, then. "These words fill my mind with dread; Fix them up so I can read. Oh gosh, that doesn't even rhyme. Umm... Okay, I got it: This text looks funny in my head; Time to fix them so I won't dread(!) Let me read these words of doom; Or just I might assume...!" She watched with glee as the page rearranged itself, leaving everything in it's place but the words in simple print. She still didn't think the spell she'd recited made much sense, but oh well, if it was good enough to _become _an actual spell, it was good enough for her.

She read on gladly, avoiding Justin's watching eyes. The page was mostly an introduction to body-changing spells. Stuff about the different ways you could alter your physical appearance. The little bit about an invisibility spell caught her attention and she, again, flipped over a dozen pages to find the subtitle that read simply: _The Invisibility Spell._

Her father wouldn't mind that she hadn't read the whole chapter. It wouldn't even surprise him.

She nodded to herself and continued reading happily until Jerry called the class of three to order. "Okay, so you get the gist of it. Now I'll do a demonstration and one of the three of you can try yourselves. The rest of you can just practise until next lesson. Okay, watch me carefully," he told them in a serious tone, capturing each of their attention. Their father closed his eyes and spoke clearly, reciting words, "_Body, mind, and sight; I dissapear! Not just am I gone from your vision; I am...Invisible." _The words did not rhyme, however, but nevertheless, in a blink of an eye: Jerry Russo dissapeared.

Alex gasped and jumped from her seat. The others followed, looking around for sight of their father.

"Aha ha!" His booming laugh came from behind, causing Alex to give a small shriek and jump. He was still invisible.

His voice sounded again, this time speaking the counter-spell. "_Body, mind, and sight; I am visible... once again_!" And his large figure reappeared again, grinning broadly.

"Wow," Alex breathed, awestruck. Any spell that could scare the pants of her was one heck of a spell! "You've gotta teach me how to do that!"

Jerry grinned again. "I will now... _Now_, I want the three of you to line up beside each other over there." He pointed and the three Russo children moved to the spot by the enchanted chalkboard quickly. "Okay, now close your eyes. That`s _very _important. You have to be completely centered on turning yourself invisible. Don`t worry though, you won`t feel a thing. You might not be able to turn invisible just yet. It takes time and practise and most importantly, patience..." But Alex wasn't listening to that. She _would_ become invisible, she could feel it. _This time_, she would outshine Justin in magic. "The counter-spell isn't neccesary but you'll want to memorise it. You normally reappear on your own after several hours. If your focused enough, you can reappear at will. No counter-spells, nothing. But that's for you to learn later... Now recite after me: Body. Mind. And sight. I dissapear."

Alex whispered the words, mostly to herself. Not feeling the need to yell them out like Justin was now, trying to imitate his father.

"Not just am I gone from your vision... I am invisible."

Again, she whispered them quietly, a small smile upon her lips.

"Now you can open your eyes, but...Oh--oh, wait. Oh my. Alex, what happened to you?"

Justin looked around himself in annoyance, wanting to get back to work. She'd just gone wondering off somewhere while the rest of them were trying to learn an advanced spell... Typical.

Beside him, Alex was grinning widely, knowing it had worked perfectly. She made her voice sound as innocent as possible. "I'm right here, Daddy. Can't you see me?" Just the sight of Justin jumping in surprise, accidently knocking Max into the chalkboard, was worth it.

Jerry gasped in response, marveling at his surroundings, looking for her just as they had looked for him. "_No_..No, I can't, Alex. Where--?"

But Alex opened her eyes slowly and took a step forward, revealing herself. "_Voila._"

Jerry laughed, sounding amused yet surprised at the same time. "Well, Alex, I never expected you to do so well, _especially_ the first time!" He shook his head. "Great work, hunny." He smiled at her, walking over and pulling her into a hug that spoke for itself: _I'm so proud of you._

Justin's mouth was still hanging open in pure shock. "_What_? That can't be right. How did _you _turn invisible on the first try?"

Alex turned in his direction, smirking at her older, wiser brother. "Well, Justin. Maybe if you spent half your time learning your spells as you do trying to outdo _me..._Well, then, _maybe _you`d have done it right. Right, Daddy?" She turned expectantly towards her father and he gave her a look.

"Alex," he chided her, then turned to Justin. "And Justin, your sister got the spell right first. You should be proud of her."

Alex covered her mouth to stifle the laugh that bubbled up in her at the look on his face. When she recovered, she couldn't help grinning at him. But before she could say anything to make it worse, her father said, "OK. Time's up for today. I want you guys to practise for Wednesday, alright? You can keep your new books in here, you won't need them just yet."

But despite his words Alex walked over and picked up the gigantic Wizard Studies book and brought it up to her room while Justin glared after her.

She kicked a heap of clothes out of the way of her bed and sat down, sifting through the many pages. She eventually turned to the back of the battered text book and looked questioningly through the index pages until she found what she was looking for.

"A_ha_! Here we go..." She smiled widely and turned to page 741 as quickly as she could.

She read, _"the Time-Turning Charm... An advanced spell, usually reserved for full-wizards with full-wizard powers, is a tricky charm that will turn back time up to 20 years previously... However, it is an extremely difficult spell and may take up to 3 days to complete... The wizard who completes the spell must be careful to not make mistakes when using this spell for __**horrible **__things have been known to happen in situations where wizard`s have been careless while time-turning... Using this time-turning charm __**illegally **__and without permission from the Wizard Council (adults) or wizard guardians (adolescents) will result in either a) termination of all wizard powers or b) banishment from the current dimension... Meaning, the accused wizard will be summoned to another dimension with no wizard powers (wizard will have to prove to the Wizard Council that they __**deserve **__their powers before they are given them back) and where no one will recognise nor remember said wizard (including family, friends)...The accused wizard will not ever be brought back from the alternate dimension for illegal time-turning is a serious crime and shall and will be punished cruelly... Before a wizard attempts such a spell, they must keep in mind that time-turning is a risky charm to attempt... In history, only very advanced wizards have succeeded and even so, many of the best wizards have failed... Use it well."_

_Alex sat back. "Oh, I will..."_

_***_


	2. Maybe, Possibly

2

***

Alex stared in fear at the words in bold... Could she actually do it? At the moment, all she could do was think about the reprocussions... She sighed heavily and shut the battered book roughly, tossing it aside. Making absolutely sure that not a soul could tell what page she had pondered over, she rose from the large bed.

Alex flicked off the light switch as she went and made her way upstairs to the family sub station.

"Hey, mom," she muttered evasively, causing Justin to, yet again, look at her suspiciously. She scoffed at him and grabbed for the sandwich in his hands.

"Hey! I was _eating that!_" he shouted at her.

She scoffed at him again when her mother made her way to their table, looking about ready to scold someone.

"Be nice, Alex," Justin told her tauntingly under his breath.

"Watch it," she muttered darkly, watching him raise his eyebrows in response.

He snorted, strutting off to another table for peace and quiet, and said over his shoulder, "What are you gonna do, Alex, jinx me?"

She raised her eyebrows when his back had turned, and muttered, "_Maybe_..."

She half-smiled, deciding, in that justifiable moment, that she _could _do it... There was no doubt in her mind now.

***

"Hey, Max, hand me that book, will you?" she said, strugging to stay upright.

It was Wednesday afternoon and she'd just gotten home from school. Max was strewn across the black couch in the lair while she was reaching for a large volume from the old bookshelf. She wasn't having much luck with that.

"Sure," he said distractedly, looking at oddly distorted wizards cascaded across the pages of his textbook with his head turned upside down in amazement.

"Uhhh!" Alex muttered loudly, "Put that down and help me before I _fall_!"

"OK. Sorry, Alex, I'm on it," he muttered yet again but this time he rose from the black sofa on which he'd been laying.

He handed her a stack of the largest and sturdiest books from the shelf behind him and placed them atop a dozen more underneath Alex's feet. She was now stretching her thin arms as high as they could possibly go but she still could not come in contact with the one she needed from the top shelf. The stack of books beneath her feet shuddered violently and she swayed for a close second before steadying herself by gripping her fingers on the edges of the shelf nearest her.

"Come--on--almost--got--you--! OH!"--_**Crash--**_"Oh, owww..."

Alex screeched and moaned loudly as more books came spiralling down in the general direction of her head.

She gasped as one particularly heavy hardcover fell with a _smack _right on top of her.

By the time she'd recovered and dug her way out of the oncoming piles, Justin, and her father and mother had appeared, with startled, questioning looks of what looked like concern--at least in her parents case, Justin was just looking at her as if exasperated.

Theresa rushed forward and pulled her daughter out from under the heavy books by the arm, yelling hysterically, "Are you alright, Alex?"

"Fi--I'm fine," she replied tersely, rubbing a spot near the top of her head that several of the hardcovers had attacked vigourisly.

"Are you sure, hunny?" her father said questioningly, puzzlement mingling with concern. "What happened in here?"

"I--was just getting--a book..from the top," she answered, waving off need for concern.

"You could have just asked one of us, or Justin," he said, not noticing how she grimaced at the mention of help from her eldest sibling.

"Doesn't matter, Dad. I'm fine."

And with that, she walked off.

...

The truth had been that she'd needed to look up something in another book about her upcoming use of the Time-Turning charm that the Wizard Studies book did not mention. To tell her parents or even, she shuddered at the thought, her brother Justin, would be beyond foolish and idiotic.

She looked up from her seat in her booth to see a cheery-looking Harper coming through the entrance to the Waverly Place sub station and she frowned slightly. Keeping this from Harper would be...difficult. However, having her find out would be worse. Much, _much _worse.

She'd occasionly done some wrong as far as her family was concerned..but nothing this big. She didn't know what Harper would think..but her scolding would do no good regardless.

Alex rushed off, hiding herself from view in the kitchen. She grabbed the huge key from it's hook in an agressive fashion and tore through the hidden lair door.

Justin was already here no doubt. She stopped to grin at him, looking smug.

He shook his head, livid, and went back to his book.

"And what's wrong with you, smarty-pants? Beat anyone at magic lately?" she asked tauntingly as she took her seat beside him.

"You did not _beat _me. You were just lucky." he stated firmly.

"Huh, yeah. I'm pretty sure being the first to learn how to turn myself invisible and then turn back _is_ called beating you. You're just jealous I learned an advanced spell before you did. What, are you scared I'm gonna beat you out in the family wizard contest?" she replied, smirking slightly.

"Yeah, maybe in another _world._ Everyone knows I'll be the one to win, Alex. You never pay any attention, how do you expect to win?" he asked her.

She looked smug again. "I think knowing advanced magic should give me a leg up in the competition, don't you, Justin?"

He scoffed in her direction, and looked away towards the wall.

"That's what I thought."

***

note:: sorry for the shortness. i was writing a pretty long chapter so i decided to split it up into 2 seperate ones. i'm finishing the next one atm. it should be finished soon! hope you like it, and please, **please, **review! ;)


	3. Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice?

*author's note (feel free to skip if you dont feel like reading): i realize the last chapter was very boring and may have made you guys skeptical about the story but i hope you find this one a lot better because many things happen! please review, thanks ;)

3

*******

Their magic lessons continued on quite normally until one fateful Wednesday when Alex decided to finally--after the many times she tried to forget the idea and move on without the tense feeling she constantly had--put her plan into action.

Though her smiles were on cue, she couldn't bring herself to sneer or retaliate to Justin's belittiling comments. Everytime he would make wise asides about her lowering magical capabilities, she found her eyes glued to the countertop in front of her, almost as if she had been forced to study all it's many cracks. And everytime she'd mess up a spell her father had set for the class and he laughed mockingly, her face would fall in the slightest way and she would not sleep until she got it exactly right, even better, she dare say, than Justin himself.

"Come on now, Alex, you can do this!" her father chided her and she flinched, wand raised high in front of her.

"I''m--I'm trying," Alex said in a small voice. Her eyes closed quietly, thinking of the future, and the spell came readily to her lips. "_Katala Homohra, dovela_!" A slight snapping sound filled the air and Jerry clapped with his a round of his usual overly-cheerful claps. She opened her eyes a moment later and there, right before her eyes, was a beautiful white dove, conjured out of thin air. The smile lit her face as quickly as the bird had appeared.

She sat with a _huff_ on the plump cushioned couch, exhausted.

"Ok, Ok. We'll pick up next lesson, but you guys are really getting great!" he said enthusiastically. He flashed them all a quick thumbs-up and swept from the lair to help his wife with the customers lining up above in the sub shop. Max left with him.

Alex looked around triumphantly to see Justin glaring at her as usual when she did good magic. She smirked, but a second later the expression fell from her face.

Justin looked at her oddly, squinting.

"What's up with you?" he said rudely.

She glared. "None of your buisness, thanks, _excuse _me." she said just as rudely back, getting up to leave the room.

He put an arm out to stop her and she automically took a step back.

"Get _off!_" she said loudly, tugging on his arm just as a burst of brightest red filled the air. She'd done magic without meaning to...

"Ouch--!" Justin muttered, clutching his arm for a moment. For a split-second Alex froze, then--"_AHHHH_!"

Justin was now fully holding his arm to his chest, as spurts of crimson stained his shirt, and screaming at the top of his lungs. He was _bleeding_...

"Wh--what happened? I--I didn't do it!" Alex screamed, reaching feebly to touch his mangled arm. There were tiny cuts etched deeply into his arm, all the way to his shoulder blade where it stopped. How had this happened, she had no idea...

"Stop--it!" Justin continued screaming. "Alex, please--stop .."

"I--I don't know! I--" She held his arm out, hoping that it would go away because it frightened her.

"AH!" Justin screeched one last time and then the cuts abruptly dissapeared, leaving his arm stained and swollen red from the sudden pain. He looked up, frightened, at his sister.

"I..h--how did that happen?" Alex asked, feeling faint.

He just stared at her like he couldn't believe who she was. Like something he'd been thinking for a while had suddenly been confirmed.

Alex stared back, willing him to believe it had been an accident. It _had_ been an accident, she didn't mean it! All she wanted was to remove his arm off her..not torture him!

Justin looked at her for a moment, then turned and exited the lair with no indication that anything odd had happened between them, and she could do nothing but stare after his tall figure.

***

Alex leaned back against her headboard, taking deep breaths.

"Come on, Alex, just do it, it's not that bad, just do it, just do it, just do it.." she chanted to herself, willing herself to believe she was doing nothing wrong.

She stared for what felt like the billioneth time at the weathered page. _"..A bottle of spice, two quarter-cups of malasses for thickness, two litres of water, and a hint of cinnamon." _What exactly the cinnamon, malasses, and spice were for she had no idea..but that's what the instructions read.

She'd placed her concoction in the hideaway of her closet, tucked underneath a heap of clothes. She'd conjured up a sturdy lid so as not to mess up the potion and ruin the the whole thing drastically.

Every minute a gruesome flashback popped into her head, causing her to pause.

She hadn't even meant to hurt him so why did she feel so guilty? It wasn't like he'd told her parents. He'd just carried on like nothing happened and avoided her gaze over few weeks that had passed since the incident. It was now Saturday night and she had finally plucked up the courage to finish the potion portion of the spell.

She tossed in the dash of cinnamon crumbs and leaned back, admiring her work. It was a bubbling crimson liquid that popped every seconds, with a layer of lightest blue covering the top--_apparently_, this was her guilt. It would be there until she let it slip, and then, and _only_ then, would she be able to complete the spell. Simple enough..right?

She sighed deeply. Wrong, very, very wrong. She was having trouble with that.

She peeked inside the book once again to make sure she'd gotten it right... Okay, so now she had no excuses: it was now or never.

Alex let her eyes slip to a close and waited it out. Eventually she found herself jerking awake and covered in a thick quilt--her mother's. This did absoutely nothing for her guilt, she shook it off.

She got up, changed, and then walked slowly to the kitchen downstairs, dragging her feet.

"Hey, dork," she muttered to Max, ruffling his hair and avoiding her other brother's penetrating gaze. However, this was unavoidable once she'd sat down;he was in full view of the television, which was right in front of her eyes. She tried politeness for a start. "Good morning, Justin.." ....No response.

He stared at her for a moment or two and then averted his eyes, pretending to concentrate on the tv. She knew this was a ruse because Max's favourite disney show was on, something _he _wouldn't be caught dead watching.

She cleared her throat loudly, getting his attention. "I didn't do it on purpose, so stop treating me like I'm some psycho, alright?" she said in a high-pitched voice that she couldn't help from sounding the teeniest bit guilty.

He turned to her slowly, his expression stony. "Fine." he replied, giving no inclination that he even heard a word she said.

Alex bit her lip at the many retorts that came to her and kicked the back of Max's chair on her way out to relieve her emotions. She let out numerous breaths and slammed the door behind her.

She was so angry she didn't stop until she reached the enclosed community garden in the centre of Waverly Place. She could feel something funny in her gut. A kind of..excitement. It reminded her of the many times she'd misbehaved with magic. Something she was very fond of. Could this be..?

She took out her wand, holding it at arms length, and repeated the spell to summon objects. _"Here I am without; Time potion, come out!" _The large black cauldron zoomed into sight from around the corner and it dropped with a _thud_ into her outstretched arms. A grin was creeping upon her lips again.

"_Time zooms past me; I command it to reverse.. Bring back the past; and turn it to night. It wasn't supposed to be this way; so now I'll make it right. Tiime, time, time.. _Here it comes," she whispered. Her hands felt odd: they were all tingly, like they were about to burn. "_Time-turning misses; be careful what you change. For time is a tricky thing; only the subtle things can be looked over.. Time turns back.. TIme, time, time.. _Here it comes now.." She could feel it, pressing like a heavy weight on her chest. The spell was taking over the world she was in, changing it..turning it back in time.

Alex gasped as the wind was knocked out of her from a running sensation going throughout her head, stretching out to her toes. She felt like she'd been drenched in water from the inside. She felt a sudden tingling in her eyes and couldn't stop herself from opening them, though she wasn't sure if the transformation was fully complete. However, when they did open, she wasn't staring at the dull, cut-off plants of the old Waverly Place Park, but at a vibrant, heavenly spot with plentiful flowers and squirrels dashing up thin, young trees. She gazed around, absorbing in the beautiful scenery. She felt odd still, but this time because she was apparently still in the same park, just half a dozen years previously.

A thought occurred to her, the reason she'd done the spell at all, and she walked off towards the used-to-be family sub shop. It wouldn't be theirs now because they had only moved there three years previously in real time. Before that, she thought back, they had lived in a tiny apartment miles away. She started walking and tried with great strength to remember the precise number of their building.

Alex had been walking for several minutes when she finally did remember:_ 213, Timberling Drive. _

She whistled loudly when she saw a taxi round the corner, and she hopped in gracefully.

She gave him the address and leaned back against her seat, excitement bubbling in her like acid. This would perhaps be the most exciting thing to ever happen to her magically. These few hours she allowed herself to go back in time were gonna be _the _best hours of her life, she would make sure of it with magic this great.

The bearded and scruffy taximan cleared his throat. "We're here."

She smiled. _Let the games begin. _

"Thanks." she replied with a wink, and handed him a twenty. She was feeling generous.

She jumped out and looked up at her old life, wondering with a laugh where she was today.

Alex walked in the oddly familiar lobby and clicked the elevator's button. She walked in when the doors opened. "707.." she said to herself.

The heavy doors lifted at the seventh floor and she rushed out, eyes dashing everywhere. She wandered around the halls in wonder until she heard a shouting voice sound behind her.

"Dad, I can't believe this! She destroys my whole entire collection and you don't even ground her!" the voice yelled, sounding whiny to her. "She gets away with everything!"

Another, deeper voice sighed, sounding tired. "Justin, your sister didn't mean to. She's only ten years old, be fair." Alex's eyes popped.

"Fair!" her brother exclaimed. "I cannot believe you! She _gets away with everything_! Don't I even matter?" And with that he walked off, not noticing her standing there, staring at him from a distance.

Alex felt his words fill her up, leaving her oddly empty. She hadn't known about this particular conversation between her father and brother. _Don't I even matter? _repeated over in her head. What did that mean to him? Of course he mattered, he was the only one her parents ever talked about.. For her it was always _"Alex, I'm dissapointed; Alex, you should know better; Alex, why can't be more like Justin?". _How dare he say that?

Her breath sucked in as her father passed, coming to sit against the sand-coloured walls with his hands running over his face. He was muttering something unintelligible to himself. Something she had no intention of hearing.

Alex stalked off past him and opened the door they'd just walked out of. The main room was sunny but somehow still dull with the pale colours of the walls. Whoever had designed the building could take tips from her anytime. The apartment was now apparently empty, so she walked down a small hallway to her old bedroom curiously. It was a sickening shade of bright pink, with dollhouses and fluffy pillows strewn all over the place.

She felt about to vomit when she heard a small, cute voice fill the room. "_Excuse_ me?" she said rudely, her chin high in the air. "Who are _you_?" Her mini-me had her hands on her hips while she decided how best to answer.

Alex leaned in, putting her hands on her knees for a better view of her old self. "Haha. Aw, I was so cute."

The shorter Alex stepped back, raising her hands. "Ew! Who are you and what are you talking about?" She scoffed and flung herself on to her massive bed.

Alex pursed her lips. It couldn't be bad to tell herself what she'd done, right? She laughed at how ridiculous it all sounded even in her own head.

"OK, fine. I'm you." she told her, waiting for her amusing reaction.

She was not dissapointed. The smaller Alex jumped off her bed and ran up to touch the bigger Alex's face eagerly. She turned it roughly towards her mirror and screeched, "Oh-em-Gee! It_ is _me! How'd you_--I _do it? Are you like, going back in time or something?"

Real-time Alex had to admit that her former self would be getting on her last nerves if she was not so excited. She was a little brat, to say the nicest.

"Yeah, we did. But don't you dare tell anybody! I could get in major trouble," she warned.

The young Alex looked for a moment as if getting her future self in trouble was an intriguing idea. But real-time Alex changed her mind with a simple look. "OK, I won't. Promise." She held out a pinky and Alex rolled her eyes.

As they linked fingers, a voice came from the kitchen. "Alex! Come here for a minute please," her mother called.

"Okay, that's my mom." she said to Alex imformatively as if she didn't know this already. "I've gotta go, so stay here." She held up a finger in warning and whipped her head around, heading to the sound of her mother's voice.

Alex rolled her eyes again and reminded herself that if she shouldn't do anything rash. She rushed off after herself and leaned against the wall around the corner so as not to be seen.

"..should say sorry, alright? Those action figures were important to Justin, okay?" her mother said, holding her daughter's hand and looking straight at her.

The young Alex rolled her eyes and folded her arms on her chest, ripping her hand out of her mothers. A somber expression filled her face. Alex looked with despair at the old her. How could she have been so..

"Whatever, he's too old for dolls anyway." she said in reply and stalked off to her bedroom, leaving her mother behind, frowning after her.

Alex pulled in a breath and left the room. But not following the younger Alex, following Justin.

She rushed out the door and clicked the elevator button repeatedly.

"Come on, come on, come on," she muttered impatiently.

She felt she had to know more about the real Justin. Her real brother. The one she realised only now that she had never really gotten to know. This was her chance, this moment.

She walked quickly down the many streets of Timberling but didn't find him. When all hope of ever doing so were erased from her mind, she found herself at the familiar Waverly Place sub station, wishing oddly that she was there right now. At home.. with her brother and her family.

All that she needed to do was speak the counter-spell and she was home. But she hadn't done anything.. She hadn't accomplished anything by coming back in time and that had been her goal from the beginning. Was it why she came here..? To fix things with Justin? Because she had a gaping hole in her heart that was left from his early words: _Don't I matter? _

Alex sat in a booth towards the back, leaning her head down on the cold surface of the table.

She had been there for an hour at least when a familiar voice came from above. "Are you alright?" he asked her kindly.

She looked up into her brother's face and felt pain in her heart again.

"I'm fine, Justin." she replied.

He looked taken aback for a reason she couldn't wrap her head around. "Justin? How do know my name?" he said in a high-pitched voice.

She backtracked. "Oh," She paused. "Lucky guess, sorry."

He obviously had a lot on his mind because he accepted this lame excuse. "Right. Sorry, I get a bit worked up. I've got a lot of stuff goin' on in my head at the moment." He laughed slightly and turned to sit across from her.

She shook her bangs out so they covered more of her face. Letting Justin find out she was time-travelling wouldn't be good...

"Don't worry. Same." she said sadly, smiling at him in apology.

He smiled back, looking strangely nervous for himself. "Um, do you mind me asking.. what's your name?"

Alex grinned again. "It's A--I mean, it's Ashley. Yup, Ashley, that's me." she disguised her mistake lamely.

He twisted his head to the side, looking at her. "You don't look like an Ashley.. but it's a good name, I think."

Seeing how nice he really was made her feel that much more guilty and horrible. If she hadn't been so.. She would know a brother. They could have been best friends.

She suddenly felt a little hollow with the knowledge that she had wasted so much time when they could have been so close. Perhaps they weren't meant to be brother and sister, after all.. It was a sad thought but he deserved someone better than her who didn't make him feel like he didn't matter.

She felt like crying but she held herself back and looked at him straight.

"Do you have a sister?" she started off, developing her plan to fix things. If she could get him to forgive the past Alex then perhaps things would be different when she got back home.

His mouth twitched and he looked suddenly angry. "No," he said simply. The word struck her but she continued.

Alex raised her eyebrows.

Justin exhaled. "Fine, yeah I do.."

Alex tried to look sympathetic. "Are you mad at her for something?" she asked him, frowning over-dramatically.

Justin looked away for a moment, then looked back. "Yeah, I am. She's the only one my parents pay any attention to and I'm sick of it. She hates me and I'm not far from it," he said angrily, looking away again.

Alex's lips fell apart and she swallowed against the pain. He thought she hated him...

"I-I'm sure she doesn't.. hate you. She's just a kid, she'll regret it someday, trust me," she answered in depressed tones.

He nodded, looking impatient. "Huh, that's exactly what my parents always say but she doesn't give a ... about me, you might have a brother or sister that's a little annoying sometimes but Alex is different. She'll do everything and anything just to piss you off and it's getting old. Yeah, if she talked to me normally from time to time I'd forget about it but.. she's just.. I know she's my sister but it's like she.." He apparently couldn't finish so what he thought about her she didn't find out. It would be foolish to pry into a "stranger's" business for much longer. But he'd never been so hurt or angry with her, unless he never showed it to her face. And for who's sake was that?

"She does," she said, choking on her words. "She does care."

He looked at her all of a sudden, recognising something. He seemed surprised that a stranger would be crying and saying what she did with so much emotion, and for good reason too. "Why are you cry--Wait a minute.." He paused here, reaching forward to brush her hair from her face with an odd expression. "You're--you're.. You're Alex! You're my sister!"

Alex's eyes grew wide, causing the held-back tears to spill nonstop down her cheek. "N-no, I-I'm no--" she tried to reason with him but he wasn't listening.

"Alex, what are yo--?" he started to ask but something hit him. "You're going back in time, aren't you!"

This was what she was supposed to be careful of. She had to run, had to get out of here and back home before the past Justin ruined everything. If anybody besides her old self found out, it would all be over sooner than she dare say.

She darted for the door but Justin was ready for her, catching her arm like he had done in the present.

She tugged on it hard, struggling while tears overlapped tears on her cheek. "Justin, _please_!" she yelled.

"What's going on, Alex?" he said to her calmy, looking surprised again at her pained expression.

"Justin, _please! _Let go! I need to get out of here _now!_" she yelled back. His grip loosened lightly and she tore from her spot beside him and streaked outside, hitting her shoulder on the metal bars from the side of the door. She didn't bother with it and pushed the door out of her way, still running frantically.

She didn't stop for a taxi and kept going for Waverly Park. She racked her brains minutely for the counter-spell.

"Um, Time-turning charm.. something.. Uhh!" she yelled out. She couldn't concentrate and the tears streamed again. "Reverse time to the way it was.. um.. Oh God, what _is _it?!"

She heard a sharp snap from somewhere nearby and flinched. A moment later and the spell came back to her. "Reverse time to the way it was; I've made mistakes, not fixed. Bring back the present; this life isn't right. Time--"

"--will become light; Twist, turn, and spin." a deep, intimidating voice finished from somewhere close by. Her eyes flashed open in a half-second. "Yes, Alex Russo. You are in _trouble._"

What she saw when she opened her eyes was four tall, cloaked wizards. Each had a name tag. The first woman's said, _Ellen Dojery: Junior Head of Wizard Council. _The first man's said, _Stephen Carsory: Senior Head of Wizard Council. _The third person, a 3-foot-tall goblin's name tag read, _Harlem Polish: Head of Wizard Government. _And the last was a stick-like blonde woman whose tag read, mostly intimidatingly, _Victoria H. King: Head of the Department for Wizard Banishment. _

Alex gulped, feeling her knees give way as the fours wizards advanced on her.

_Was this the end?_

*******


	4. Momma's Little Troublemaker

4

***

It was the oddest feeling in the world to have your whole body shake. Yet here Alex stood, body trembling, as she watched four sillhouetted figures creep closer and closer.

She stared forward, wand still half-raised and her stomach clenched in a way that must be deadly to her health.

"Well, well, well.. I expect this from the darkest of wizards but not simple, misbehaving children such as yourself. Now, when I recieved the call from a certain Theresa Russo, I thought: surely, there must be a mistake. What could possibly have driven a beginner and a _child_ to attempt a charm so big? And now here we are.. What do you have to say for yourself, Alex Russo?" the goblin asked her shrewdly, pushing thin-framed glasses closer to his eyes to see clearly. His arms crossed and the four took several steps closer until they were within arm's length.

Alex's eyes popped. Her own father or mother had called the Wizard Council.. to report her for doing magic? Would they really do such a thing--knowing fully that they may well lose her for good--or was it just the Council trying to psyche her out?

Her eyes fluttered and she felt faint. "I.. I didn't mean--" she attempted half-heartedly.

The blonde pursed her lips while the goblin croaked out a terrifying chuckle. "Yes, yes, we've heard that many times. Now really, I'm sure you can come up with something a little more original. We've heard you have a knack for lying.. We're listening." He touched a long finger to his large, protruding ear.

Alex swept a drop of sweat from her forehead and faltered back a step. This would take a while...

"I.. I needed something." she told them unhelpfully.

The goblin stepped forward so they were face-to-face, not a foot apart. "Needed _what_?" he said, not bothering with niceties any longer.

She swallowed against her fear and spoke. She paused before speaking, unsure. "Forgiveness." Her voice ringed in the tense silence. It cracked a little, whether from nevousness or the pain of remembering.

The goblin squinted with beady eyes. "_Ah_.." he said curiously, pausing and obsorbing this meaningless word of hers.

She waited for him to speak.

"_Continue_." he commanded quietly, listening to her every tone of voice for signs of trickery.

She looked at her shoes minutely, examining details. "My brother.. _Justin_ Russo.. I don't know him at all. I wanted to go back.. to start over.. to fix things.." She paused, looking up intently into each of the wizard's eyes with strength that surprised even herself. "I wanted things to go back to the way they should have been."

The goblin squinted at her again with his tiny eyes, speaking with a croaky voice. "Touching story, really, but us on the Wizard Council don't get paid for letting people off just because they had a heartfelt excuse. Believable or not, it was _illegal._ No amount of pleading will stop us from obeying the _law _and you best agree with it. Now we must obey justice as well. If you want to get to know your family so well again then let us do the work for you. _We'll change everything.." _he said, lifting his gaze to the world around her, grinning devilishly, revealing two sets of ragged teeth.

Alex's heart sunk, waiting for it to come. Surely wizards as advanced as the four before her didn't need a wand to do the spell so she would have no forewarning. Her breath sucked in and she pressed her lips together, holding it.

"Alex Russo, we say goodbye.." he said with an awful smirk. "For the present." His grin grew in size and his voice sounded doubly entertained.

She began trembling and her eyes clamped shut, unable to bear the sight of the dissapearing Council: four full-wizard with futures ahead of them, futures that they had already begun to live...

Abruptly, several thoughts screamed in her head: She would never see her family again.. She would never see Harper ever again.. She would never know Justin..

But then she realized that was all wrong, because she _would_ know them.. they just wouldn't know her. Not as Alex Russo anyway...

Broken sobs forming, she had to chance a look. She forced her eyes to stretch wider but what she saw made her legs give way again. The Council was nowhere in sight and she was standing, quite alone, in an empty park. However, it wasn't anything like before. The grass was very much dead, and there were no sweet apples growing from the trees' branches. It was almost like a ghost town and the eerily tense feeling that crept over her had her streaking for the nearest road.

Her head whipped back and forth as she looked around at the world she had once known. It was the same as she'd left it so. Nothing had been changed and she cursed herself for it because, underneath the happy exterior, there was a cruel undertow. And the worst part was that it followed her with every step that she took.

She probably looked like a mess running throughout New York City but she didn't care, she needed to have proof. And anyway, she needed to be near her family regardless: they were her life support, however grossly cheesy that sounded, it was her reality now.

At last, Alex reached the doors of the Waverly Sub Station and she grabbed for the handle, pausing to restore a healthy breathing pattern: She would get nowhere with strangers if she came rushing in looking like a homeless person, which, as of twenty minutes ago, she was. She would need to tread the waters carefully. This couldn't be too hard to do, she thought to herself. Once upon a time, Justin had been subjected to her fate by a mischevious genie and her parents allowed him houseroom. All she had to do was act like Justin. Be kind, respectful, and a delight to be around... _God, this would be hard..._

As she finally walked through, an oddly happy version of her ex-brother came strolling down from upstairs. The door slammed behind her and their gazes locked. He looked dumbfounded for some reason. Alex couldn't understand, Justin was never, ever nervous.. only when he talked to girls.

She swallowed against the guilt and pain, stalking straight towards him. "Hi," she said quietly. "I'm.. Alex." She cringed against having to introduce herself to her own brother. This would take some getting used to. She coughed quietly, covering her face to disguise her deep emotions.

Justin swallowed, just staring. He gave an involuntary laugh and spoke in too-animated tones, "I'm, um.. Justin." He tried a smile and the expression was rather sweet.

"Hi, Justin," she repeated, trying to remain as polite as possible. "I know.." She paused, swallowing against her words. "I know you don't know me but I was wondering if we could talk..?" She waited patiently, not foreseeing any possible objections he could come up with.

He gave another anxious chuckle and said, "Sure, sure. Over here."

He showed her to a small booth and they sat opposite each other, unsure.

"Great." Alex replied a little late with a cute grin. Justin grinned widely in response, blankly waiting for her to speak. "So.. tell me about yourself."

She got the basic questions out of the way so she could play her part fully. When it came to him asking her surname, she replied, "It's.. um, Gomez."

"_Really?_" he said, sounding astoundingly curious.

"Yeah." she replied hoarsely.

"You don't look anything like a Gomez, you know.." he mused.

"Really?" she replied again, little beads of sweat forming.

"Yeah, you look more of a.. Actually, you look like a Russo." he continued with a joking laugh.

She forced a loud laugh through her stress and held up her smile with a weakened force.

They talked for hours upon hours, and Alex continued to grow fonder of him as time went on. He was charming when he wasn't too nervous, though his smile made her heart hurt. His laughs were innocent and when he grew quiet she felt a strong need to comfort him. He talked proudly of his parents, and amusedly about his brother. She listened intently as he spoke of his worries and his dreams. He had so much more to him than she could have ever known in her past life that she felt drawn to him with every detail of his existence. They could have talked for years and it would not be enough...

"Well," he spoke up all of a sudden, glancing sadly out the closed window at the night sky. "I guess you'll have to go soon.." He tried to mask his emotion but she felt just as morose as he looked.

"Well.. _actually,_" she hesitated, looking guilty. "... I don't have anywhere to go." she admitted, exhaling quietly.

He looked concerned, and a tiny corner of her mouth pulled up sadly in response. "Really? Are your parents out of town?"

She hesitated once again. She needed her excuses ready and _"my parents are dead" _wasn't exactly what she was going for. "Well.. sort of... You see, they left town kind of.. _permenantly_... And left me with a couple hundred bucks but I can't really afford a place to stay.." She stopped here, watching his expression grow more sympathetic and caring by the second. "That's why I came here.. I needed to find a job so I could afford it but.. Then I noticed you."

Oddly, his cheeks burned red and Alex had no time to respond before he blurted out, "You can stay here!" He realized soon after what he had said and backtracked. "I-I mean, you don't have no where to go a-and I don't think my parents would mind, we've got a spare bedroom we never use. And besides, you can't live on the street or something, so you can stay here if you want," he reasoned.

She smiled appreciatively, secretly ecstatic that her plan had worked. "You would do that for me?" she said, innocently surprised.

He smiled, falling for it. "Yeah.. Yeah, I would." he replied honestly, standing up. "C'mon, I'll ask now."

He showed her upstairs to the house above the sub shop and she tried to act as if she didn't know where to go by following behind him shyly.

A few seconds later and they were stepping through the doorway to her old home. It was significantly different than the last time she'd been here. It wouldn't seem all that different if a stranger compared them but to her, all of the little things stood out.

Justin strode casually upstairs, nodding to her. A muffled conversation stood out in the silence of the room and she looked around with overwhelming regret. All of this could still be hers if she hadn't been so.. selfish. So stupid. All for a few hours of fun magic.. Not even allowed to call herself a Russo anymore... It was incredible when she looked back how easily she had ruined her own life. Now what was become of it? Making friends with your brother so you wouldn't be living on the street for the rest of your days? Yes, that is as good as it gets from here on.

Justin appeared after a long ten minutes, strolling back down the spiralling steps with his concerned-looking mother. She stepped ahead of Justin and smiled warmly at Alex, though there was still the awkwardness since she couldn't tell if her story was true.

"So.." she started, "Justin tells me you don't have a place to stay?" Her tone was kind. "Well, don't worry, you're welcome to stay with us for a while until you can figure something out. I won't have you out by yourself." She smiled down at her again, making Alex wish she could reach out and hug her without it seeming odd and out of place.

"Yes, thank you so much," she replied heavily, eyes welling up slightly.

Theresa's eyes twinkled as she reached forward to pat her on the arm. It was as much as would seem normal in a situation like this. She felt a certain pull towards this new girl, like she was somehow important.

"Don't worry," she repeated consolingly for a second time. "You won't go hungry on my watch." She smiled and then turned towards the kitchen. "Come now, we'll get you some dinner. What are you hungry for, sweetie?"

Alex smiled charmingly and followed behind her silently. "It's Alex, thank you.. Anything's fine."

Justin sat beside her. Trying to make her feel less awkward, she guessed, since she was supposedly staying with strangers.

As she ate, she thought of how she'd gotten here and what was to come...

Was she not meant to be a Russo? She wasn't as kind and generous as her mother, she didn't have the innocent spontaneity Max had, she wasn't as amusing or strong-willed as her father, or as pure and kind-hearted and intelligent as Justin. She had no defining qualities that made her someone worth knowing compared to them. She was rude, she was tricky, she was selfish, and she was trouble.

Silently, Alex stared around at the people she used to call family.

They all seemed happy and complete without her, _so different... _And she felt a distance from them, a hollow feeling where the love for her family had evaporated through time. It seems the spell that had estranged her from them took that as well. She had her memories and that was all...

It was like she was suddenly thrust into a new life on her own, never having known a family but seeing what you thought was yours stand before you, staring at you curiously as if they've only just met you.

All there was to do now was adjust to this new life. She could see now that there was no point in trying to convince them she was part of their family, it would do no good regardless. And besides, she realised now that she had no magic in her to prove the point. The Council took that too...

Speaking of magic, there was an odd sort of wariness about the whole family's too-normal actions. And then it occured to her that they all must be keeping their magic under lock and key while she was watching. Something would have to be done about that, and so she eased yet another burden of theirs.

She took a deep breath and let it out, forming the lie. "I think I should probably get this out of the way so you guys aren't always trying to hide it around me.. I know about magic, and I know about wizards. My parents were both wizards and I lost out in the family competition to my brother. That's why they left, they were ashamed to be stuck with a mortal as a child so they dumped me and took off with him."

They all looked dumbstruck. It took a while for anyone to speak.

Justin breathed, "I'm so sorry," and Theresa said consolingly, "That must have been terrible for you," while Jerry still muttered, "Magic? What magic?"

"Yeah," she said, exhaling again. "It was, but it's alright.." She wasn't _totally_ lying..

"Oh dear," Theresa still said, seeming to decide about something. "Well, don't worry dear, you'll be staying with us from now on." Her voice rung with permenance and Alex was overjoyed.

A smile was forming and she didn't repress it as she gazed back at the people surrounding her. They were no longer family but they were something stronger now: friends. If she had half a mind to get to know them in her past life then that statement wouldn't make sense. But in this life... everything's twisted.

...


	5. Remembering Me

5

***

Alex woke up like on any morning and shut her eyes against the light. It was several moments before she could remember where she was and why it felt so different--her queen-sized bed was still here, though infinitely more bland and with an air of rarely being used. The sheets were dusted and cold, making her shiver while she slept. Nothing was exactly the same--but then again, there was now nothing to compare it to because, in this life, the opposite had never even happened.

With that thought in mind, she lay back down, her soft brown eyes resting endlessly on the ceiling tiles. This bed she lay in was all too familiar to her. It had the same velvety sheets and the same cushiony pillows but everything else was different. The walls were a dull beige--which she wouldn't dare use--and there were no colourful clothes scattered amongst pillows on the floor. It was just a cold, empty guest room in this life... No Alex Russo had ever lived here until now.

A knock on the door made her jump and Theresa stood there with a tray in hand. She strode over and sat beside her with a smile.

"Good morning," she began. "Sorry to startle you like that. Will I ever find a teenager who likes mornings?" She laughed again. "Well, I made hot chocolate. I wasn't sure what you like, so you can grab anything you want for breakfast, alright? I went shopping early." She placed the tray beside her, sipping on her own chocolate, and walked back to the kitchen with a wave.

She remained speechless and her head felt hollow. This "getting to know your family" thing was really, really weird.

Alex got up, not bothering to change out of her pajamas and followed her out to the kitchen after several minutes. She was now washing dishes and Alex sat on a stool, feeling awkward. She had to keep reminding herself that it was no longer her house and that to walk up to the refrigerator and stuff your face with cookie dough in a stranger's house was bad manners.

"So," Theresa said, spinning around to face her after placing a last dish on the rack. "What'll it be? We got pancakes, toast, muffins, pop tarts, cereal, anything you want." She smiled down at Alex, leaving her feeling cared about.

"Umm.." She paused, noticing Justin walk down the stairs, yawning tiredly and wearing nothing but drawstring pajama bottoms. Since when did he have muscles? She blushed. "Just cereal, thanks." she said, turning back to her.

Justin sat at the far end of the counter, evidently too exhausted to notice her presence.

Pouring milk, Theresa placed a bowl in front of her, saying, "Here you go, Alex, dear," with a smile.

Justin's head snapped up and he flushed red.

"Morning," she said to him, amused.

He cleared his throat, nervous, and replied, "G-Good morning."

She smiled at him wryly and continued eating, conscious of his nerves.

Eventually he overcame it and asked, "So what are you doing today?" as if it was a miracle that she wasn't already occupied.

She turned to him again. "Nothing," she said with a grin, knowing he'd offer himself up.

It was easy to see his face light up. "Oh.." He paused. "Well, you can come with me. If you want."

"Sure," Alex said brightly. "What're we doing?"

...

Here Justin and Alex sat, at the Late Night Bite, drinking their Smoking Cocktails out of fancy smoking glasses.

Justin continued to laugh and she joined in, feeling blissful. For some reason, she kept forgetting the fact that he was her brother and not just a really great friend.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Justin asked tentatively with a fading blush. He was gaining more confidence as the day wore on and it left her grinning like a child.

"Sure," she agreed, grabbing her blue jacket from the back of her chair.

They made their way along the roads, talking intently and sharing sandwiches they'd gotten for take-out.

"So, what's your school like?" she asked him, realizing it would seem odd to know about this if she only just came to town.

"Oh, not that bad actually," he said. "I've met some great friends there. You should meet them sometime."

"Sure," she said again with an exhilarated laugh.

"The teachers are alright," he continued now, with a sudden laugh. "There's this one teacher, Mr. Laritate. I'm telling you--" Justin started, laughing.

The atmosphere surrounding them abruptly changed. Justin stood frozen with his mouth half-way open, in the middle of speech. Alex whipped her head around and immediately locked eyes with the dark figure hidden in shadow in the long alleyway to their left.

The small figure hopped from the dark cover, balancing himself on one foot expertly as he clambered over to her. When they were face to face in the dark Alex recognized Harlem King of the Wizard Council standing in front of her. She felt infinitely smaller, though she towered over him.

He wore a grumpy expression as he said, "So, have you figured it out yet?"

Confused, Alex replied, "Figured what out?"

Harlem grinned. "That you are starting to forget your past life. Bit by bit."

Alex blanched, caught off guard yet again. So what she'd been dreading was true... She suddenly felt queasy.

"Why?" she asked desperately.

Harlem scoffed. "So you won't attempt to mess everything up by convincing the Russo's that you belong with them." he said, making it sound rather obvious. "I've seen what you've done and I know what you were planning to do. If you succeeded in convincing them, you have no idea what that could do to the balance of our worlds. Soon you won't even remember the event's of yesterday yourself and you will be just a young girl who's parents disowned you, forcing you to find shelter with the Russo's. Day by day, your memory is growing weaker and you will not have any recollection of your past life. You will no longer be Alex Russo. Not even in your memories."

Her breath came roughly and she leaned against the stone wall of the alley to balance herself.

In what, 24 hours? - she would not have a clue who she was? It was hard enough having her family forget her but what would it be like to not even know herself for who she was?

"It won't be so bad," Harlem reasoned, not sounding at all regretful of what the Council was doing to her mind at this very moment. "You will still have a memory, of course, but you'll remember how you lost your powers to your brother and how disgusted and embarrassed your parents were when it happened, how lost you felt when they dropped you off on Waverly Place that night with nowhere to go... You'll have an entirely new identity."

Alex stared forward, seeing nothing, unable to form a rational response to any of this new information. What was the good of a new identity - an alter ego, if you will - if you couldn't remember your old one? The thought terrified her and she clung desperately to the no longer solid vision of herself performing the spell that got her in this mess. It kept flickering like the light of a candle swaying from the wind - blurry, clear, blurry, clear...

"Why did you come here?" she said suddenly to the shrunken goblin. Was this the Council's idea of a joke? She got banished from the world she'd grown up in and she wasn't even allowed to remember it?

Harlem suddenly looked far more serious than he appeared at first. He was still balancing carefully on one foot and something about his expression had Alex shrinking back against the cold stone. "One thing before I let Mr. Russo here speak what he's been so graciously waiting his turn to say..." He paused, glancing at Justin, and then looking into her eyes carefully. "Alex Russo, we do what we do to protect our secret. You, a mere child, cannot fully realize how dangerous being a wizard can be. That is why we have rules, and our rules must be followed. Do you imagine what would happen if a mortal was introduced unto our world?" he said shrilly. "Every magical being on planet Earth would be destroyed, war would break out, children would be snatched, the world would turn to chaos and not a soul of us would be left. It is time you understand the severity of what your spell could have done. It was not just simply turning back time, Alex, if you had made even the slightest mistake, you could have changed history. Do you understand now?" His voice may not have been raised but it was just as well, Alex stood frozen, shocked into silence.

Harlem's expression cleared the angry lines away and he spoke once more before disappearing. "Be careful here, Alex Russo, and stay out of trouble." He inclined his head and with a sharp snap sound, he was gone. She could have sworn she saw the teeniest hint of a smirk lighten the goblin's features as he disappeared.

In an instant, before Alex got the chance to recover, Justin continued without pause. "--he is so not the right man for the job. Am I right?" He grinned, turning toward her. There was just enough time for her to slither back to his side.

***

NOTE: Again, pretty short chapter. But every chapter counts, right? Review pretty please :)  
Oh and if you don't get why he's standing on one foot the whole time, think back to the episode of WOWP with the fashion show and Alex has to pause time to fix everyone's clothes. She has to stay on one foot the whole time, remember?


	6. The Plan

6  
***

Alex Russo awoke the next morning with her head throbbing. It reminded her painfully of the golbin's words the night before last. She sat up and finally took in her old bedroom. Her eyes landed on a framed photograph of the family and she stared at it, wondering: _Where am I...? _For only four Russos were there.

She'd been staring at the photograph so long that she could swear she saw it bubbling up and turning. But then again, it couldn't just be her eyes playing tricks on her because, soon enough, the shrivelled face of Harlem King of the Wizard Council staring back at her with his usual devilish smirk.

Alex scrambled up off the bed frantically to get to the photograph, sure that he would be gone as soon as he had appeared. But he was still there and her stomach dropped because any news was bad news when it came to Harlem King.

"Why are you here?" she said dryly.

"Hmph. Not very friendly in the mornings, are you? That's _definitely_ not going to get you your powers back, is it?" he said shrewdly.

"M-my powers?" Alex stammered. In all the caos, she had almost forgotten that she no longer had magical capabilities.

"Yes," he breathed. "Your powers. You _did _realize that the reason we've known what you were up to these last few days was because we were watching you to see how much you.. _deserved _them."

Alex stuttered again. _She was being watched too?_

"And let me just say, so far you haven't been too pleasant on our end so I wouldn't expect them back anytime soon." He spoke as if he were about to laugh at her childishness. What was left of the old Alex got angry at this but she couldn't muster the energy to retort. However she did cross her arms and glare, she couldn't help herself.

"I haven't done anything wrong, all I've wanted since I _came _back was to know my own family and not have to live on the _street._" she reminded him fiercely.

Harlem raised an eyebrow, considering. "I suppose your right. Still, we'll be watching you for the next few days. It's you we're talking about here, Alex Russo. You like magic. And illegal magic." And with that, the frame bubbled, turned, and all traces of a goblin ever being there.

Staring at that empty picture frame, Alex had an idea. But would it work, she asked herself dazedly. It seemed so far-fetched now, though if you'd asked her a few days ago she'd have been only too eager to put it into action. And soon.

And so she asked herself: Was there enough longing for the past in her to fall through with it?

The Russo in her nodded vigorously though Alex herself cowered.

Her over-worked brain caculated the days automatically. By this rate, her memory would be erased by this coming Friday. She could not let this happen and she knew what it would take to stop it. Would it be enough to jog her memory once the process of erasing the past was complete? And would the Council be able to tell either way? Could they tell, at this moment, what she was planning?

Her head whipped around herself at the thought and she shivered.

_No, they could not,_ she thought to herself with conviction. _But they will if I am not careful,_ she continued planning in her head. She would have to wait carefully, choose her moments, all the while trying to keep a firm hand on her memories so that she could keep a straight head throughout it all. The Council must not know a thing about this, ever. For if they did, her powers would be gone to her. Forever. And she needed them back in order to fix this. In order to fix everything... It was her one last hope.

Once and for all, she would make sure that _everything _would go back to the way it was and was always supposed to be. She was _meant _to be Alex Russo, there was no doubt in her mind now as this last thought filled her with a hope so fierce that her memories of that night swarmed her head, a picture so clear that she gasped, knowing. Soon, it would all end. And it would be a good ending. A _happy_ ending, she would make sure of it this time.

***

Short chapter again, sorry! I should stop apologizing though I guess, this chapter is important. It's building up to the real important stuff. Now you see she's not giving up without a fight, which you and I both know is bringin' back the Alex Russo we all know and love ;)


	7. A Spell Could Change The World

7

Alex rose from her bed unwillingly, groggy from a rough night's sleep. It was the night after her latest encounter with Harlem King and she'd kept awaking every few hours, frantically trying to remember details of her childhood that kept cropping up inside her head while she slept. It's amazing - or either, terrifying - how much she had forgotten already, or at least the amount she could remember she'd forgotten.

A new, foggy image echoed in her dreams like a nightmare. A haunting new memory that, for some reason, she felt a sharp pain in her heart everytime she thought of it, though she could not link it to herself in any way. The dream showed a tall, thin brunette woman in her early thirties, her face ashen with a fierce betrayal that stabbed Alex's heart, leaving it throbbing. This woman seemed familiar, though she'd never met her in her life, and Alex felt close to her somehow, like deja vu or something.

Alex shuddered and walked down the stairs and into the family room to see Justin watching television, alone.

"Hey," she said quietly, sitting next to him on her favourite spot. "Whatcha watching?" She gave him a small smile to let him know not to ask why she looked so... lonely?

"Oh," he started, turning to her and then looking back at the screen. "I dunno, I can't really concentrate." He looked over at her quickly again.

She blushed, realizing what he unintentionally implied.

"Mm," she assented, blinking at the screen. She looked over at him after a moment to see him staring at her, face flushed. He snapped out of his reverie and she cleared her throat, turning back to the screen. It seemed, after his comment, she could no longer concentrate on the screen either so she tucked her legs underneath her and twisted toward him.

"Justin?" she asked tentatively, her thick eyelashes cascading shadows down her round cheeks as she played with the loose string on her t-shirt nervously. She looked so beautiful in that moment that Justin couldn't help but be struck silent.

He tried to talk normally but his voice came out too high and odd. "Yea-" He coughed. "Yeah?"

Without looking up, she said, "Do you know a Harper Finkle?"

_Harper, Harper Finkle, Harper... _The name twisted around in his head, sounding familiar.

Then it clicked. "I think I do, yeah. Why, do you know her from somewhere?" He tilted his head to one side.

Alex looked up. "Yeah, er.. camp." she said, trying to sound believable.

"So you know her?" she asked him, her voice too eager.

"Oh, yeah." he said, wondering why she seemed so interested. "I could give you her number if you wanted? She's always leaving it places." He raised his eyebrows at this, looking elsewhere, and Alex almost laughed aloud because he obviously liked her dork of a bestfriend no better in this life than in the last.

"She's a bit odd, y'know. Are you sure you want it?" he said, cocking his head to the side, disbelieving.

"Yeah." Alex said with a grin. "We go way back."

And with that, she went back upstairs and got dressed, ready to put phase one into action.

The first step to her oh-so-brilliant plan was to get her life as close to "back to normal" as possible. She might be able to stop herself from forgetting her family but she could think of no way to remember her friendship with Harper without actually _becoming _her friend again. The natural way. It shouldn't be too hard, she reasoned, when they'd first met it had been Harper who was most enthusiastic about their friendship. Why should she turn Alex away now? According to Justin, she hadn't changed at all. A wide grin flashed across her face and she rushed back downstairs.

"Hey Justin, do you happen to know where Harper hangs out? I think I'd rather surprise her. In person, y'know?" she said with an easy grin.

"Oh," Justin said, once again stumped by her enthusiasm for the strange girl. "Well, it's about time for school, so she'll be there."

_Oh, _Alex realised suddenly. She'd almost forgotten school. Then she almost laughed, of course she'd forgotten school.

"You could come if you want? They're always letting kids from other towns come visit. All you have to do is get a pass from the office and your good for the day." Justin offered.

"Sure, sounds great." Alex grinned at him.

An hour later, 8 o'clock to be exact, they made their way through the school hallways and Alex departed from Justin to get a visiters pass. He'd offered to show her the way but she brushed him off, assuring him she would find her way. She opened the doors of the too-familiar office - she'd been here many times before in her previous life - and stepped up to the front desk confidently.

She cleared her throat and spoke. "Hello, I'd like to get a visiter's pass - er - please?" she said awkwardly, hating to be so formal.

The old, decaying woman squinted up at her, obviously in a foul mood. "Guidance office." she said shortly, pointing to her left.

Disgruntled, Alex walked off. She knocked tentatively.

"Come in," a voice called.

Alex entered the room slowly, peering around at the familiar walls and biting her lip. Looking at the kind young woman behind the desk, she felt strange. For some abnormal reason, she couldn't place her name - to think of the millions of times she'd been in this very room to discuss her behaviour, and she couldn't even remember the woman's name. She refused to look at her name tag to help herself remember...

A memory - or memories - pretty much jumbled into one in her head, even in her past life - called to her. It showed the same woman, her pretty features curved in as she let out her dissapointment on the careless teen sitting opposite her. It was one of the many times she'd been called down here to discuss "her future". But still, she couldn't place a name... and she felt angry at herself.

"Hello," the woman said brightly. "How may I help you?"

Alex merely looked at the woman for a stretched out moment and then spoke, breaking out of her stupor. "I - need a visiter's pass." she said awkwardly, looking down at her hands.

"Alright. And what is your name?" the woman continued, pulling open a drawer. The contents created a racket and Alex sat down in the room's only other chair.

"Alex.. Gomez." she replied after a moment's hesitation. "I'm staying with the Russo family. You may know him, Justin Russo?"

The woman looked up, looking ecstatic. "Oh, why yes I do know Justin. He's one of my favourite students. He sometimes helps out with the drama program, where I volunteer a few times a week. Such a sweet kid." she said, almost admirably.

"Yeah, yeah, he's great.." Alex muttered, smiling down. It was funny, no matter what sort of life she had.. she would always be compared to Justin - related or not, he would always be the better person...

"So, I'm going to ask you a few questions and then I'll give you one of these -" She held up a sticker with the word 'visiter' typed in bold. "- with your name on it, and you'll wear this for today. Will you be transferring here as well, Miss Gomez?" she inquired, studying Alex.

For a moment, Alex's mind looked further into the future then she'd ever looked - because she'd always lived for _today _- and she thought that eventually the Russo's would expect this of her. She wouldn't be able to live with them forever without doing something with her life. "Well, er, yes. Soon, I expect." she replied, turning away.

"Great." The woman smiled brightly like she would like nothing better than for Alex to be here, at her school, even though she had not given the best first impression and Alex was reminded painfully of Harper. "Alright," she started, clicking her pen and reading from the form in her hands. "First name? Alex. Surname? Gomez... Reason for visit?" She looked up at Alex, waiting.

"Oh, um, just.. checking out the school, you know." she lied evasively.

The counsellour scribbled on the paper and a few minutes later Alex was cleared to go with her name tag stuck on her t-shirt visibly. She wandered down the familiar halls until she ended up outside, wandering the playground she'd pretty much deserted since fifth grade. A small figure was sitting on a step in the distance, and Alex followed the silhouette, curious.

Once she got close enough, a familiar tuft of red locks came into view underneath a dull, mismatched baseball cap. A moment's hesitation made her see why the sight seemed so odd... And she stepped back, examining her used-to-be best friend from a distance again. She was not donning any of her usual odd hairdoes, or her normal for her but abnormal outifts. She looked... _completely normal?_ A shudder of unease passed through Alex and she moved no closer.

Looking closely, Alex could see her hair tied back messily into a ponytail that was almost invisible behind the uncharacter-like hat. This was insanity; this was Harper Finkle for God's sake! What was going on with the world!

This may have seemed like an exaggerated reaction but it wasn't just Harper's appearance that stumped her - she understood Harper better than anyone, and something just wasn't right...

Finally able to move, Alex strode forward, pretending to be casual, and stepped in front of her.

Harper hadn't noticed.

"Hi," Alex said quietly, brightly.

Harper started. First she lost her balance slightly and almost fell on her backside, then she sat up straight in order to see her more clearly. She was looking at her strangely, like she was uncertain still that she was actually speaking to her, although there was very clearly no one around and Alex was standing right in front of her.

"Hello," she spoke, as if it were a question.

Alex smiled greatfully. "I'm Alex."

Checking behind her, she responded timidly, still sounding confused, "Harper."

A pause in conversation left Alex feeling uncertain about things - she was never one for making friends easily...

"Why are you talking to me?" Harper blurted out suddenly, higher than what Alex had grown used to in the last minute. "Did you and Gigi cook this up, is that what this is? Because I know what she's been doing, sending those notes to Justin Russo and pretending their from me!" she finished indignantly, but after a moment her voice faltered.

Alex had stepped back, in a state of shock, and confusion too. "What? I -" she started.

But Harper was almost close to tears now and Alex could do nothing but stand and watch her try to swipe them away with no such luck.

"Just leave me alone." Harper mumbled around her hands that were gripping the edges of her hat so that it concealed her face.

And suddenly, Alex came to a realization. This morning, when Justin mentioned Harper's odd quirks, she saw it as a sign that her best friend was the same as always.. But she'd been wrong. So wrong. Harper had always been eccentric to an extreme but she'd never been too good at standing up for herself. Could it be that, without the influence of Alex's assured confidence and originality, Harper had become like _this?_ So fragile, lonely, and so _afraid_ to be herself?

Alex drew a shaky breath, wondering to herself why everything had to turn so serious whenever she got anywhere close to happy. "I don't know a Gigi, sorry, I only just got into town. I do know a Justin though. Do you know him?" Alex said, with just the right amount of concern.

Harper looked up, her hurt eyes widening. She looked down at her herself, her face burning, and she seemed too aware of the tears that had stained her cheeks.

"His last name is Russo?" Alex prompted.

Slowly, Harper nodded.

"Oh." Alex tried on a smile. "Well, I live with them now, you see. I'll be going here soon."

Even more slowly, Harper came out of her embarassment and spoke. "Oh.." was all she said.

"So, I don't know many people - any, actually - and your the only one I've met that I seem to have anything in common with, so..." Alex's voice trailed off when Harper looked her up and down, from her trendy skinny jeans to her voluptuous curls, and she looked doubtful.

"So, maybe we could hang out?" Alex asked, nervous for the first time speaking to Harper.

Harper still look doubtful, and she considered the offer for a moment. A few minutes passed and suddenly Harper`s face went red. She got up at once, mumbling a quick, "Sorry, but no thanks," and brushed past Alex.

Alex watched her go, sitting in the spot Harper had just vacated, feeling lost even in such a familiar place. The entire world was starting to feel so like a stranger as she discovered one more person she`d lost to the Time-Turning spell...

Alex didn`t know how long she sat there, mourning the loss of her bestfriend, but eventually she went back inside to find Justin. The bell was ringing and she was glad she wouldn`t have to spend much more time here in this place.

...

Step two.

Alex rushed to her "borrowed" room and grabbed a spare notebook from the near-empty drawers. If she forgot this then all hope of ever remembering would be lost. Hastily, she scribbled down the spell she'd used only twice before, **Please please, tell me now; Is there something I should know? Deranium Derani.**

She placed the notebook and framed picture back inside the drawer.

She could feel her memories dripping away, leaking until they were gone for good and she was eager to wallow in them as long as they lasted.

Alex stared at the page for hours, willing it to be permenantly lodged into her memory. For she was scared in the morning, she would not remember this moment as it was. It would just be a confusing reminder that she had forgotten something important, she would never remember what...

She walked slowly to her bed, feeling drained, and lay down facing the desk. Perhaps if she woke up this way then she would be drawn to the spot where her note and photograph lay hidden. She would remember it eventually, she reasoned.

Alex just kept her eyes open and staring, almost afraid to close them in case she drifted off. There was a numb feeling in her gut because the next few days would bring only confusion and loss. She could feel the worry and down right fear creeping closer to her heart. She eventually let the pain take her and finally, after days of holding it in, lay there and cry. Crying for Justin who was no longer her brother, crying for her family that was no longer her family, crying for Harper who she, it seemed, would never know, and crying for life in general because it just plain sucked.

...

**Long time no chapter, huh? I kind of gave up on this story, just because these last few chapters have been difficult to finish but I might pick it up again. Possibly..  
Anyway, the spell she uses if you can remember is from the episode "Night of the Lazerama" - i think you can figure out what it will be used for.  
xxo, Please review :)**


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